Griffins blank Barons to even series

A day after its scheduled start, the puck finally dropped on Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday night and the Grand Rapids Griffins blanked the Oklahoma City Barons, 4-0, to even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

Game 4 was originally scheduled for Friday night, but was delayed by a tornado emergency and eventually postponed after heavy rains caused parts of the Cox Convention Center to flood.

The Griffins, trying to snap a two-game skid, got a season-high 40 saves from Petr Mrazek, who earned his third shutout of the playoffs.

Grand Rapids opened the scoring 12:08 into the game, as Gustav Nyquist fed Joakim Andersson down low and Andersson swept a shot past Yann Danis (28 saves) for a power-play goal. Nyquist and Andersson were both making their return to Grand Rapids following Detroit’s elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs earlier in the week.